Cases surge across Europe

Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full COVID-19 lockdown, it said on Friday as Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout, report agencies.
Meanwhile, the overall global number of infections now crossed 256 million amid the race to vaccinate masses against the infectious disease.
According to Worldome-ters, the total case count mounted to 256,479,473 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,150,444 on Friday evening.
On Thursday, 8,265 new deaths and 585,392 new cases were recorded worldwide.
More than 7.61 billion doses have been administered across 184 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 33.8 million doses a day.
A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe's largest economy, into a national emergency, Health Minister Jens Spahn said. He urged people to reduce their social contacts, warning that vaccinations alone would not reduce case numbers.
Other European countries are also tightening restrictions as Covid-19 cases surge across the continent, but so far none have reimposed full lockdowns and only the Vatican has mandated vaccinations for all.
The lockdown will start on Monday, while vaccination against Covid-19 in the Alpine nation will become mandatory from February 1 next year, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.
The confinement will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days, he said. Austria said it would require the whole population to be vaccinated as of February.
Roughly two-thirds of Austria's population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. Its infections are among the highest on the continent, with a seven-day incidence of 991 per 100,000 people.
European stocks retreated from record highs, while government bond yields, oil prices and the euro tumbled as the spectre of a fresh COVID-linked lockdown in Germany and other parts of Europe cast a fresh shadow over the global economy.
As cases rises again across Europe, a number of governments have started to reimpose limits on activity, ranging from Austria's full lockdown, to a partial lockdown in the Netherlands, to restrictions on the unvaccinated in parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Meanwhile, the US has recorded 47,530,897 cases to date and more than 768,684 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, has registered 21,989,962 cases so far, while its Covid death toll rose to 612,177.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 34,485,517 on Thursday, as 7,000 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
Besides, as many as 92 deaths were recorded since Wednesday morning, taking the death toll to 464,715.